Coin to the face. Only a City fan or a Buckeye could come up with a response like that. No wonder Morrisey wrote so many depressing songs, look at the material he had to work with. If he lived in Columbus, Morrissey would have been Beethoven.

How is ManU like the yankees? They are still swimming in debt from the Glazier's takeover. They couldn't afford to keep Tavez, and got outbidded by City for Nasri, and outbidded by Chelsea for Eden Hazard.

Most of their recent transfers were funded by selling Ronaldo to Real Madrid, and the vast majority of them (RvP excluded) were on the cheap (Chicarito, Jones, Smalling).

City, Chelsea have been buying left and right with Dubai/Russian backers

But compared to 99% of clubs in the European food chain, they are a predator. There happen to be a couple of apex predators (Chelsea, City, Barça, Real) above them at the moment, but the vast majority of clubs can't compete financially with them. They may not be the Yankees, but they're like the Red Sox.

I follow a couple of clubs in France, and they (other than PSG and possibly Monaco in the future) are mere tuna to the sharks that operate in England and Spain. That may start to change as clubs like Lille, Marseille and Lyon build new stadiums, but I'm not sure. French authorities are considerably less tolerant of endebted clubs than their neighbors.

Yes, but 99% of clubs buy their players from smaller clubs. Every league in every country, there isn't so much a foodchain as there is a pipeline. Even at the youth ranks. Players often go through 2 or 3 or more teams as a youth prospect in every league. Man U is actually one of the better ones at spotting talent early and coaching them up before they're superstars. The clubs they buy players from bought those players from even smaller clubs, and so on. If you want to cheer for a team that doesn't tap up smaller clubs talent you likely won't be watching soccer, because they don't exist.

It is what it is. I just find it a little silly to deny that Man U isn't benefitting from having a gigantic budget. Its budget may be marginally smaller than that of a couple other EPL competitors (and the Spanish big two), but still vastly larger than even most of the clubs it faces in the Champions' League.

The "Flamebait" and "Offtopic" labels are dished out way too often around here. I see them applied to both of snarling wolverine's posts here, and neither makes any sense. The negative votes and hiding of posts should be reserved for genuinely offensive/trolling posts, not just ones people happen to disagree with. Posters' obsession with downvoting everyone they disagree with just discourages free discussion.

Regarding the topic of this thread, why is it problematic for fans of big-market pro teams to acknowledge that they have more money than most of their competitors? As long as it's permitted by the rules, it's nothing to apologize about. No one seems to have a problem with the fact that Michigan football has more money to spend than most other football programs (which probably helps us land recruits).

I misread your post to mean that Real Madrid were Yankee like lately. As you probably know they have been the Yankees, with small lapses, since Puskas and DiStefano in the 50's. Arsenal and Liverpool have been more Yankee like through the years too, more than Chelsea. I also was scratching my head about the comment about PSG, speaking of buying teams. Anyway, yes they are "apex predators" and I love to watch ALL these teams play.

The debt on the club from the Glazers has played a role but United isn't broke. City and Chelsea can basically spend whatever they want but United have still had huge bids for the likes of Hazard, Benzema, and Nasri.

How much they spend on transfers is irrelevant if they already had a huge payroll and didn't need to make as many roster changes. They're still one of the top 8 in the world in terms of average salary for players in soccer. So yeah, it's less than City and Chelsea...but far from tiddlywinks or enough that they can't compete with those other clubs.

Are you calling them the Yankees because of the amount of titles they have won? Or because you think they outspend everyone? If it's about the titles what fan wouldn't want the team they follow to be great? Doesn't the fact that Michigan is the winningest program in NCAA history provide a point of pride for our fan base?

If you are talking about out spending teams, if you called them the Detroit Tigers (who are top 5 in spending much like United) would you have the negative connotations you tried to imply?

I left the Tigers out because there are many Tigers fans on the board (myself included) and didn't want to get them bitching too. I'm not talking about success, just finances. Thought it was stupid to call out one team for being like the Yankees when there are several other teams similar to them in terms of payroll, just like there are teams that spend much more than the average team in baseball.

Really wondered why he started Mario B. over Tevez. Then super Mario acted like a baby went he was substituted for. Sir Alex proves again he is the best coach. It is no accident Man Utd just keeps winning even without Vidic.

Or over Dzeko. Either player is well outperforming Balotelli. In 6 starts and 6 appearances subbed in Bali's taken 32 shots, and only 5 of them were on target. He's scored one goal. Dzeko has played out of position as a Winger at times with 5 starts and 7 sub appearances and in 28 shots he has put 13 on target and has 6 goals and 1 assist. Dzeko's showed better character and commitment to the team in how he's handled being forced on the bench after picking City over other big clubs that would gladly be starting him right now.

unfair or not. Aguero plays better with Tevez. Edin Dzeko will likely be sacrificed if Mancini is to bring in the goalscorer he wants, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The owners have already told Mancini he has to cut payroll before adding another striker. Today's loss was as big as it gets and spring cleaning is definitely coming. btw Balotelli was already POed because his girlfriend gave birth and he couldn't go visit her due to the derby. He is gone too, imo.

I hope you enjoy this Mgoblog-like analysis on dollars spent in the EPL. The whole money grab associated with the Champions League or threat of demotion make spending even more important than in than our "socialist" college and pro sports.